Bleacher Report - Articles by Bruce Sarte

AL Central Five Best Starters

Bruce Sarte — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 03:20:40 -0400

In a league that sports pitchers like Scott Kazmir, Jon Lester, Chin Ming Wang, Andy Pettite, Dice-K, Roy Halladay and Jared Weaver the arms of the American League Central Division often get over-looked.

In the recent past, you could have included Johan Santana and C.C. Sabathia in that list but now they have moved on to the National League. What does this leave the AL Central?

A lot of great arms! And here is my run down of the best arms in the AL Central, my AL Central All Start Starting Rotation, if you will.

No. 1 Starter: Cliff Lee, Cleveland Indians, 22-3, 2.54, 223.1IP, 170K

I will put it in writing, right here, right now. Cliff Lee should be the American League Cy Young Award Winner for 2008. No questions asked. If the Indians had won the AL Central you would say that Cliff led them to the total winning 22 games on the way to the crown. But they didn't win the division. As a matter of fact the offensively challenged Indians finished in third place at a mediocre 81-81.

One more point of interest is that Lee only started 31 games, the fewest on my list, and won 22 of them. So the question is, how good was Cliff Lee in 2008? He was C.C. Sabathia good...Johan Santana good and better than anyone else in my previous list. Period.

No. 2 Starter: Zack Greinke, Kansas City Royals, 13-10, 3.47, 202.1IP, 183K

This may seem controversial to put someone with a 13-10 record as my No.2 starter. But I'll defend Greinke to the grave. He won 13 games, posted a fantastic 3.47 over 200+ innings and fanned a division best (tie) 183 batters. His K/9 ratio was the best in the division among it's regular starters and managed all this on a team that only won 75 games. How good would he be on a team that scored some runs?

No. 3 Starter: Mark Buehrle, Chicago White Sox, 15-12, 3.79, 218.2IP, 140K

This was a bit more difficult call than Lee or Greinke. Lee's numbers speak for themselves, while Buehrle's require some real comparison to the rest of my list.

I slot him No.3 for two key reasons: He threw 218 innings and his ERA was 3.79 over those innings. He is the type of starter that not only eats innings, but does so with quality and consistency. By way of comparison, Javier Vazquez threw more innings than Buehrle but sported an ERA approaching five.

No. 4 Starter: Gavin Floyd, Chicago White Sox, 17-8, 3.84, 206.1IP, 145K

Wow, if I were the Phillies I would be kicking myself for trading Floyd. He had such promise but just couldn't put it together. Until now. Floyd's breakout season couldn't have come at a better time for the White Sox. Why is a 17 game winner so low on my list? Largely because if you put Greinke on the White Sox he would have won 17-18 and if you put Floyd on the Royals I see him as a .500 pitcher.

He logged some serious innings and did have an ERA below four, but not by much. And without the White Sox offense, I don't see him as an elite pitcher. But this was a great season for him, so you can't leave him off the list!

No. 5 Starter: Gil Meche, Kansas City Royals, 14-11, 3.98, 210.1, 183K

Meche's numbers were very good. You can't argue with that. He logged 210+ innings, struck out 183 batters and won 14 games on a fourth place team. He was a solid performer all year for the offensively challenged Royals.

I went back and forth about him either sitting at No.4 or No.5 but his slightly higher ERA and three less wins dropped him below Floyd. I'd rather have someone keep people off the bases than strike them out.

Honorable Mentions:
Nick Blackburn, Minnesota Twins
Javier Vazquez, Chicago White Sox
Armando Gallaraga, Detroit Tigers (This kid is going to be GOOD)

So there it is, my starting rotation taken completely from the American League Central. It is formidable and sports some great arms. The thing I find interesting about looking at the stats is that it is not simply a list of No.1 starters from each team. No one from Minnesota or Detroit made the list and the Twins finished with 88 wins and one game behind the White Sox.

KC Royals in the World Series: 2008 Tampa Bay Rays Give the Royals Hope

Bruce Sarte — Fri, 24 Oct 2008 01:44:52 -0400

First and foremost, before I get into the article itself, I would like to give my loyal readers two free gifts:

1. Courtesy of Jason Bartlett's fifth-inning steal, every person in the U.S. is entitled to a free taco at Taco Bell on Oct. 28 between 2-6 PM local time.

2. Dr. Pepper is making good on a prior promise to provide every person in America a bottle of the soft drink if the album arrived in 2008. "We never thought this day would come," says Tony Jacobs, Dr Pepper's vice president of marketing. "But now that it's here, all we can say is: The Dr Pepper's on us." Interested fans are being asked to visit Dr. Pepper.com on Nov. 23, the day Chinese Democracy is released in the U.S. After registering, fans will receive a coupon redeemable for a 20-ounce Dr Pepper. The catch: The coupon is available for only 24 hours and will expire Feb. 28.

So there you go, a free Taco and Dr. Pepper—just for reading my article! (OK, not exactly true...but how many of you knew about these two free offers before?)

As a Royals fan, year after year, I sit through the winter months wondering what the Royals will or even can do to break the chains of the basement of the American League Central Division.

There is much conjecture and bantering back and forth between fans and armchair GMs, about how they should pick up this free agent or trade that guy, but the reality is that in a small market such as Kansas City, it is nearly impossible to build the type of winning franchise that the Royals enjoyed between 1980-1986.

Or is it?

The Ray of hope lies in the Tampa Bay Rays. For the record, they will always be the Devil Rays to me, but I'll call them by their new name to show some respect to the "worst to first" small market 2008 American League Champions.

In 2007, the Tampa Bay Devil Rays (as they were known back before they knew what a winning record looked like) finished dead last in the American League East, scraping together a meager 66-96 record. The 2008 Rays finished at a staggering 97-65.

By comparison, the 2008 Kansas City Royals just missed the A.L. Central cellar for the first time in years by one game, finished with a slightly more respectable 75-87 record. But let's be honest, without that spectacular September, the Royals would have been sweeping the basement again.

The Rays put together a 31-game improvement in their record. That is mind-boggling. How can the Royals look to mirror the success of the Rays? They only need to put together a 15-game improvement to jump to the top of the American League Central. Doable? Eh, maybe.

With the Rays, this movement started a few years ago from the top down, with the change in managing partners and the injection of Joe Madden. The Rays decided they were to going to hold on to their homegrown talent and pay it well.

Example: Evan Longoria was touted as the next Ray third basemen coming into 2008, but no one was really sure if he was ready. He started the season in the minors but was quickly brought up in the second week of the season after an injury. A week later, the Rays signed him to a sweet six-year deal.

And much like Scott Kazmir, BJ Upton and Rocco Baldelli before him Evan Longoria isn't going anywhere anytime soon.

Lesson No. 1 for the Royals: Championships aren't simply purchased, they are home grown and then supplemented by free agents. The 2008 Rays are a nice mixture of homegrown talent and free agents. The Rays would be equally lost without Eric Hinske, Cliff Floyd, Carlos Pena, and Troy Percival as they would without Kazmir, Shields, Upton, or Longoria.

OK, so that's nothing new. The 1990s' Yankees taught us all that lesson. However, the Royals have this ugly history of letting home grown talent just walk out the door.

Example: The deal that sent Carlos Beltran to the Astros was one of the worst trades in the last 10 years in MLB history. Period. But he isn't the only budding star player the Royals have let walk out the door; heck the Royals' history might only be second to the Montreal Expos! And look at what happened to them!

But the point of saying this is that many fans right now are screaming for that big name free-agent acquisition, and I say no! Many fans are saying trade Greinke, Soria, or Gordon, and, again, I say no! Is Greinke as good as Kazmir? No. Does he have similar potential? Absolutely! Is Gordon the next Longoria? Not exactly, but he still has tremendous upside.

I don't want to go through the laundry list of players and compare them all side-by-side, my point is that the Royals' farm system is rich with potential and the Royals' management needs to coax it along.

I feel the front office has improved since deals like the Beltran debacle and the dugout has, too. Hillman and company have the right attitude and know-how to teach these young players what it takes to win at this level.

Do the Royals have as talent-rich a farm system as the Rays had over the past two or three years? No. But I think guys like Mike Moustakas shows us that there are players with Evan Longoria-type potential. And much like the early 2000s' Yankees, the Royals need someone like a Robinson Cano to jump on the scene and blow people away when no one thought he was ready for the show. That someone could potentially be Mike Moustakas.

But what about the free-agent acquisitions? Well, the front office still needs some work there. Initially, I was put off by the amount of money the Royals paid Gil Meche, especially since it was not too long after selling Beltran for a handful of beads. But he has done some nice work for the Royals, and I've seen him pitch live—when he is on, he is as good as anyone. would compare his "stuff" to that of Brett Myers, and I would even say he has a touch more consistency. But, like Myers, Meche is not a No. 1.

Jose Guillen? I like Guillen for the most part, but a lot of people have been saying that his 20 home runs this season justifies his salary. Even going so far as to say he has "earned" the money. I think that is a vast overstatement. Since we need a guy to hit 30/.300 not 20/.264...Someone who sits in the middle of the lineup and puts fear into the hearts of opposing pitchers, something Guillen does not do, I would say he is falling a little short of earning his salary.

The Royals need to look to this free-agent market for a solid arm (200 inning guy) and an OBP man. Someone who works the walks and gets on base. Everyone in the 2008 Rays daily starting lineup had an OBP over .310. Everyone. The Royals sported only five and finished in the dustbin of the league in walks. Get these guys on base and runs happen.

Ask the Rays.

About that 200+ innings guy? 2007 Tampa Bay Devil Rays had three starters that logged over 150 innings. 2008? All five. What about the 2008 Royals staff? Only three logged more than 150 innings. 2007 Devil Rays starters ERA ranged from 3.48 up to 6.14...2008? 3.49 up to 4.42. 2008 Kansas City Royals starters ERA ranged from 3.47 to 6.97 (if you include Tomko).

Lesson No. 2: Build consistency in the starting rotation. The more consistent innings the starting rotation logs, the more games you are going to win. But, using the 2008 Rays as an example, you don't need a lights-out starter. No one in the Rays' starting rotation had an ERA below 3.00. But they all logged substantial innings this year, whereas last year they did not. Much like the 2008 Royals.

If you want to win games, you need to have your starters going six-plus innings.

Ask the Rays.

The idea here is that the Royals have some of the same pieces in place that the Rays had last year. Good field manager, good coaching staff, a front-office ready to win, some good young talent...But they still need to make some changes. They need to make better veteran signing-decisions and make sure they keep their young talent on-board. The need to shore up the pitching staff and get on base more.

The Royals are addressing some of these things, but the one thing you can't predict and the Rays got this year is a superstar like Evan Longoria. The Royals need someone who comes up fast and hits the show hard. Who is that guy?

2008 Kansas City Royals Harbingers Of The Future

Bruce Sarte — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 02:21:42 -0400

It was the same dream again.

It was October 27th, 1985. The World Series was tied 3-3 and we were sitting in the club house in Kauffman and Dick Howser was pacing. Bret Saberhagen was sitting next to me rubbing his arm. His had his Royals hat on but only a white t-shirt, no uniform. He looked at Howser and said: "Skip, I can't lift it."

Howser looked at me and said, "Well, looks like you're getting the pill for game seven. You ready?"

Then I wake up in a cold sweat. Alas, it was only a dream and in reality, Bret Saberhagen capped off one of the most historical MLB post-seasons ever. The Kansas City Royals not only won the World Series, something they haven't even been able to sniff since 1985, but they became the only team to ever come back from 3-1 deficits in both the Championship Series AND the World Series in the same post-season. That accomplishment remains to this day, the Red Sox storied post-season history doesn't even approach that feat!

That being said, the 2008 Kansas City Royals bring to mind that 1985 team. Why would a team with a meager 75-87 record bring back memories of a World Series Championship team that won 91 games? Several reasons.

2008 finished with some really great positive markers being passed. First and perhaps the most positive one is the 2008 Royals had the best record in September of any Royals team since 1985. This allows the team to accomplish a serious goal: not finish in last! I know, it sound small but remember Bill Murray in What About Bob? -- baby steps. OK, you want something more substantial? Two 13+ game winners! How many sub-.500 teams have starters with the numbers Greinke and Meche put together? None. Meche won 14 games with a 3.98 ERA and threw 210 innings. And Greinke? He won 13, 3.47 ERA and 202 innings under his belt. I think you have to consider how many teams in baseball today have two starters that log 200+ innings a year and can still hand the ball over to a Mariano Rivera-like closer like Joakim Soria? Very few, and those teams win a lot of ball games.

What this means to Royals fans is that we have a solid 1-2 punch in the rotation and the bullpen was solid. No, we aren't post-season ready yet but the Royals are well on their way. We certainly need more consistency out of starters 3-5. Bannister started out like a fireball in 2008, but then fizzled like a sparkler on the 4th of July during a rain storm. He needs to find that form again. That coupled with a healthy Luke Hochevar and the Royals will have one of the better pitching staffs in baseball.

Offense? Nothing but promise. Jose Guillen paid off after his cold start this season and there is no reason to think he won't hit closer to 30 home runs next season. And young guys like Alex Gordon, Billy Butler and Mike Aviles hold nothing but upside. Pictures of George Brett, Frank White and Willie Wilson flash through my mind when I think of the combination of speed and power that this line up potentially has.

So what do the 2009 Royals need to do to win you ask? Good question, glad you asked. I think they are already on their way. The addition of Kevin Seitzer to the coaching staff adds a brilliant hitting mind to the mix and should help stabilize Gordon, Butler and Teahan's bats. No one will argue that Teahan's 2008 was a disappointment, but Seitzer should be able to bring him around if Hillman can pick a position for him and leave him there. There is no question that the Royals need some help up the middle. They need to do something at 2B/SS. They have Aviles but need the other piece to the puzzle. They will need to address that and at least one mid rotation starter this off-season if they hope to overcome the White Sox and Twins in 2009.

The free agent market can be a tough one to navigate for a team on a budget like the Royals. But I have some ideas that might help. Go out and spend some money on a starter... get someone who can log 200 innings and the bullpen will continue to perform. Don't spend the money on a middle infielder. Here's the idea: Leave Aviles at SS, he is doing a great job. Shift Teahan from the outfield to 2B and field Guillen, DeJesus and a combination of Maier/German/Butler in the outfield. As for 1B, it's still covered by Gload/Shealy/Butler. And German can pop into 2B here and there, as well. All of this without spending a dime. I know this raises Butler's position question again, he's too good to not play in the same place everyday. But I think for 2009, it will work and other things are going to shake out and the options for Billy Butler will present themselves.

Here are some guys I think would fit the Kansas City Royals mold for 2009:

Bartolo Colon - He showed he can still pitch, can he log 200 innings? Maybe.
Jon Lieber - Won't throw 200 innings, but he should be a bargain and a good #5.
Carl Pavano - Should come relatively cheap considering his recent history and has the potential to throw 150ish innings and win a few games.
Randy Wolf - He might command a decent salary but should respond well to the low-pressure KC setting and get you near 200 innings.
Freddy Garcia - I don't know where his mind is but he showed he still has something left in the tank...if he returns to a shadow of his old self he'll get near 200 innings and a low ERA.

I know, all of these guy have injury issues. But, reality is that KC is not going to sign Burnett, Lackey or Martinez. And they all were hurt too. Each one of the people on my list represent a bit of a risk but if the price is right, it is worth it. And they could bring the experience and presence the Royals sorely need.